Boosting Performance Through Creative Surgery

Opel Kadett on a Corvette ZR-1 Chassis

German race car driver and builder Hover Hovemann built his Opel Kadett C to race in European hill climb events. He installed the body over a C4 Corvette ZR-1 chassis and powertrain pulled from a wrecked Corvette. The ZR-1 came from GM with a 5.7 L LT-5 V8 engine designed by Lotus and built by Mercury Marine. The all-aluminum DOHC V8 shares very little with the LT-1. Hover’s LT-5 was rebuilt with a flat-plane crank and some other improvements allowing the engine to produce 750 horsepower and 650 Nm at 9,500 rpm. Behind the engine sits a Tractive 6-speed sequential transmission.